ESPN: Carlos Lee To Rangers

"The Milwaukee Brewers are trading slugger Carlos Lee to the Texas Rangers as part of a multi-player deal, ESPN.com learned Friday.

The Brewers are sending Lee, minor-league outfield prospect Nelson Cruz and a player to be named later to the Rangers for relief pitcher Francisco Cordero and outfielders Kevin Mench and Laynce Nix."

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Initial opinion: Jon Daniels got the best of Doug Melvin here. Daniels gets a player comparable to Mench in Cruz, only cheaper. He adds a huge addition to the middle of the lineup for the stretch run in Lee. Mench is at a crossroads, Cordero is really just an OK 31 year-old reliever with saves under his belt, and Nix has been long on promise but short on results. It seems that Melvin is trying to stay competitive and get some players for the future for Lee at the same time, so Brewers fans have to respect that.

Interesting side note: according to Baseball Prospectus, Kevin Mench’s most comparable player is Carlos Lee. I wonder how often a player has been traded for the player most similar to him?

I’ll have fantasy analysis of the trade on RotoAuthority sometime this afternoon.